So we can't play one note together... Why not?

As an educator, I have had the opportunity to travel to many groups in many different areas and help out. These groups can range in resources for their percussionists. The range of resources I have seen is a one band director band where the director doesn’t feel comfortable saying anything to percussionists, to a large band with techs for almost every sub section of the battery and one or two front ensemble techs. No matter what the resources, there are some key foundations that often goes overlooked: feet timing (and vocal duts), sticks up, and a properly executed motion from the tacet position. These three elements are so often not talk about for various reasons. I have heard people express their idea that these things are not important and more time should be focused on music. I whole heartedly disagree with this assertion, as you will see. I have heard people address them briefly for a day and then never mention them again. Then, they see problems with entrances in the music and wonder why they are having these problems. The students in your drum line will be much more successful with the proper implementation of these three fundamentals.

Let’s begin our journey of these foundations from the ground and work our way up. The feet of a percussionist are the bread and butter of their ability to keep time. They should also be the educators first thing to watch when odd rhythms are not lining up correctly, or when initial attacks are being missed. When marking time, the percussionist needs to be able to feel the time coming from their feet. Some people do this by simply using their heels to mark time. I do believe that this is effective, but can be made more effective be utilizing a whole foot mark time technique. The foot only has to come off the ground enough to slip a piece of paper underneath, but it must come off and return to the ground in a heavy but relaxed manner. From here, all rhythms should be learned based on their interaction with the feet. This ensures a firm understanding of the rhythms. This is especially difficult for some players in open rhythms with lots of space (like dotted eighth notes) and in 4:3 type rhythms. Once firm tempo has been established internally by using an external source, an audible dut (or similar sound) must be used in order to check the individual timing with the ensemble’s time. This should be audible enough for the performer to the individual’s left and right to hear it and should be short and precise to eliminate as much room for error as possible.

Moving up from the feet, the next motion that needs to happen is the sticks up. The sticks up is usually looked at as another time keeper. While I agree with this, that is not what I want to stress. Yes the sticks must be brought up in time, but they also must be brought up (or out) in a relaxed manner. This doesn’t mean it has to be slow. However, one of the worst things that can happen in a sticks out before you play is for you to tense up before you have to play. Many young players do this in order to keep their sticks up fast and in time. You would never ask a brass or woodwind player to squeeze their lips together on a horns up, so why should percussionists do this to their fingers/hands on a sticks up? Tension breeds error in music.

Finally, The stick must move effectively from the tacet position. If there are two notes to be played, both sticks must be effectively moved from the tacet position. If all other things mentioned previously are being executed correctly, the prep stroke may be to blame. Often, students do not think about the fact that they must lift their sticks before they move toward the head. I honestly try not to define this motion to an extreme amount. Instead, I use exercises that help the performer utilize peripheral vision to move together (Check back in a few weeks for these exercises and a post explaining them!). I monitor the motion of the stick when I hear consistently bad attacks. Usually you can pin point the player who is moving unlike other players and give them the proper feed back.

If you are having problems with attacks in your drum line, these tools are a great starting place to ensure effective first notes. Without a together first note, there is no guarantee subsequent notes will be together. An ensemble must usually start together to end together. At the very least, it gives the performers their best shot to have an excellent musical experience.